A German human resources manager arrives right on time for your meeting, but the Nigerian executive is 20 minutes late. Your Japanese hosts invite you out for a night of drinking – do you have to go in order to do business? Feedback from a candid French manager leaves you in tears, but feedback from an oblique English boss leaves you mystified as to what it means. Cultural differences often determine what someone views as acceptable workplace behavior. Knowing and respecting these differences is crucial in today’s global environment. International-business expert Erin Meyer dispels the confusion by providing a “culture map” for visualizing these differences. She smartly identifies eight pivotal problem areas marked by cultural disparities, creates a scaled continuum for each area and plots countries along each progression. Use the map to decode where cultures fall relative to each other and to your own; then adapt your behavior in these pivotal areas. getAbstract recommends Meyer’s clear structure and abundant examples as a must-read for anyone working with people from other countries or heading for the airport.

In this summary, you will learn

• How to use the eight scales of the “culture map” to navigate international business
• How the way people communicate, give feedback, persuade, lead, decide, trust, disagree and manage time springs from and defines different cultures